Process for producing support for use in photographic material

ABSTRACT

A support for use in photographic materials which is not subject to excessive curling and which has a back side which can be written on is produced by a process which comprises contacting one side of a polystyrene film containing dispersed white pigment with a first liquid which strongly swells or dissolves the polystyrene, contacting the other side of the polystyrene film with a mixed solution of a second liquid which swells or dissolves the polystyrene greater than the first liquid and a third liquid which has almost no ability to swell or dissolve polystyrene and then drying the polystyrene film to remove the liquids. The surface treated with the first liquid is generally to be coated with a photographic emulsion, the surface treated with the mixed solution can be written upon.

United States Patent 1 Tatsuta et al.

[451 Mar. 25, 1975 [75] Inventors: Sumitaka Tatsuta; Wataru Ueno,

both of Kanagawa, Japan [73} Assignee: Fuji PhotoFilm C0,, Ltd.,

Kanagawa, Japan [22] Filed: Apr. 23, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 353,817

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 21, 1972 Japan 47-40206 [52]US. Cl 96/87 R, 117/34, 117/47 A [51] Int. Cl G03c l/78, B44d U092 [58]Field of Search 96/87 R; 117/47 A, 34

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2.957.791 10/1960 Bechtold96/87 R 3.515.567 6/1970 Tani et al ll7/47 A 3.704.154 ll/1972 Tatsutaet al. 96/87 R 3,709,691 l/l973 Tani et al ll7/47 A PrimaryExaminer-Mary F. Kelley Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Sughrue, Rothwell,Mion, Zinn & Macpeak [57] ABSTRACT A support for use in photographicmaterials which is not subject to excessive curling and which has a backside which can be written on is produced by a process which comprisescontacting one side of a polystyrene film containing dispersed whitepigment with a first liquid which strongly swells or dissolves thepolystyrene, contacting the other side of the polystyrene film with amixed solution of a second liquid which swells or dissolves thepolystyrene greater than the first liquid and a third liquid which hasalmost no ability to swell or dissolve polystyrene and then drying thepolystyrene film to remove the liquids. The surface treated with thefirst liquid is generally to be coated with a photographic emulsion, thesurface treated with the mixed solution can be written upon.

10 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure PROCESS FOR PRODUCING SUPPORT FOR USE INPHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of theInvention The present invention relates to a process for producing asupport for use in a photographic material and, more particularly, to anovel support for use in a photographic printing material which isexcellent in water resistance and curl balance.

2. Description of the Prior Art A film produced by an extrusion methodcommonly practiced in the plastics industry using as a starting materiala composition comprising a polystyrene resin and a white pigmentdispersed therein, which may be or uniaxially or biaxially drawn, has,in general, extremely poor surface gloss. Therefore, when a photographiclight-sensitive layer is applied to the surface of such a film toprepare a photographic light-sensitive material and a photographic imageis formed in the photographic light-sensitive layer according to usualphotographic methods (photographic printing) a glossy, beautifulphotographic image cannot be obtained.

The inventors previously suggested a process for producing a water-proofsupport for use in a photographic material which comprises contactingthe surface of a polystyrene resin film containing dispersed therein awhite pigment with an organic solvent which exhibits a strong swellingor dissolving action on the resin and drying the thus treated film toimpart excellent gloss to the support. The surface of the support isthen coated with a photographic emulsion layer to prepare a photographicmaterial having excellent gloss and high photographic resolving power.

However, where only one side of a polystyrene film is brought intocontact with an organic solvent according to the above-described processthe film undergoes severe curling with the progress of drying, with aconcave bending toward the solvent-treated side, which makes thehandling of the film difficult in the-production thereof and lowers itscommercial value.

In order to avoid such a curling phenomenon, one can treat both sides ofthe support under the same conditions. However, though such treatmentrenders the contraction of both sides of the support well balanced andno curling appears, both sides of the support are rendered glossy by thetreatment resulting in the loss of the writing property, printingproperty, pasting property and like properties required of the backside. Furthermore, in a support for a photographic material it is moredesirable that the support itself be a little curled or convex withrespect to the surface thereof rather than the support be completelyplanar.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION As a result ofextensive investigations toobtain a support for a photographic material which solves the problemsencountered in the prior art, the inventors reached the presentinvention which is a process for producing a support for a photographicmaterial which comprises the step of contacting one side of apolystyrene resin l'ilm containing dispersed therein a white pigmentwith a first liquid having a strong power to swell or dissolve thepolystyrene resin; contacting the other side of the polystyrene resinwith a mixed solution consisting of a second liquid having a strongerpower to swell or dissolve the polystyrene resin than the first liquidand a third liquid having no or an extremely low power to swell ordissolve the polystyrene resin; and drying the film to remove theliquids used in the foregoing steps.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The drawing is a plot to determineswelling power.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In general, no undue criticalityis attached to the selection of any particular polystyrene or copolymerthereof so long as the polystyrene illustrates the excellentfilm-forming and physical properties attributable to polystyrene. Inthis regard, polystyrene copolymers may freely be used so long as theessential physical properties achieved by using styrene homopolymers arenot lost.

The polystyrene resin used in the present invention includes copolymersof styrene and a copolymerizable monomer(s) as well homopolymers ofstyrene. As the styrene there are used styrene and substituted styrenessuch as alpha-methylstyrene.

Illustrative of the comonomers copolymerizable with the styrene areacrylonitrile, butadiene, methyl methacrylate, ethylene, propylene,vinyl acetate, and the like. Styrene homopolymer or copolymers can beobtained by polymerizing styrene or copolymerizing styrene with two ormore of the above-described compounds. Specific examples of polymerscontaining styrene as a component (styrene is not necessarily containedin the polymer in the largest amount over other components though suchis often preferred, and it is often the case that styrene is 50 mol orgreater of the styrene copolymer) are a styrene homopolymer, impactresistant polystyrene, an acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer, anacrylonitrile-styrene-butadiene copolymer, a methylme thacrylicester-styrene copolymer, an a-methylstyrene homopolymer and likea-methylstyrene copolymers. In producing supports used in the presentinvention, at least one member of the above polystyrene resin can beused. These polystyrene resins generally have an average molecularweight in the range of from about 80,000 to about 500,000.

The polystyrene resins used in the present invention include apolystyrene resin alone as defined above and a mixture comprising such apolystyrene resin and other synthetic resins. The above mixturepreferably contains the polystyrene resin predominantly, for example,mixtures comprising about 3 to about part, preferably, about 5 to about50 parts by weight of synthetic resins other than polystyrene resin perparts by weight of the polystyrene resin are desirable. The syntheticresinswhich can be used as a mixture with the polystyrene resin includeethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, ethylene-acrylic ester copolymers,ethylenemethacrylic acid ionomers, ethylene-acrylic acid ionomers,butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymers, ethylenepropylene copolymers,natural rubbers, synthetic isoprene rubbers, butadiene rubbers,styrene-butadiene rubbers, high-styrene content rubbers, polybutadienes,chloroprene rubbers, polybutenes, butyl rubbers and nitrile rubbers.These synthetic resins can be used alone or as combinations of two ormore thereof.

In the present invention, the resin blends containing polystyrene resinas a main component can be used as a support because the support ofmaterials as described above is suitable for a photographic support dueto its toughness. which is almost the same as that of a base paper.considering a conventional photographic paper having a thickness on theorder of from 100 to 300p. The other various synthetic resins asenumerated above can be added to the polystyrene resin in order toimprove the moldability and the tear strength and to adjust thetoughness or the feel. Thus, the other synthetic resins incorporatedinto the polystyrene resin are generally thermoplastic polymers having arelatively high elasticity.

The fine powder of white pigment(s) incorporated into the above resin(s)are used for obtaining whiteness and a masking effect desirable for thesupport of photographic material.

Examples of the white pigment used in the polystyrene resin includetitanium dioxide, zinc white, barium sulfate, calcium sulfate, calciumcarbonate, barium carbonate, lithopone, alumina white, etc., which maybe used alone or as combination of two or more thereof. A preferredwhite pigment is titanium dioxide, in particular, titanium oxide havinga rutile-type structure. Any white pigment can be used in the presentinvention so long as it provides sufficient coloration to render thepolystyrene light and is not dissolved and does not harmfully react withany of the treating liquids. The phenomona of pigment loading isessentially a physical one, and no undue criticality is attached to theselection of any particular white pigment, for instance, the pigmentsneed not be inorganic, though they commonly are, if they meet the abovecriteria. All are used as fine powders having a mean grain size of 0.0510 microns, preferably less than 1.5 microns and most preferably lessthan 1 micron. White pigments having an average grain size of less than1 micron are particularly preferred since they generally provide a sheethaving smooth surfaces when incorporated into the polystyrene resin usedin the present invention. The white pigments are dispersed in theaforesaid polystyrene resin in a proportion of 2 40 /1, preferably 5 to30% by weight based on the polystyrene resin. The dispersion may beeffected by any known method. However, it appears to be the most generalmethod in this art to mix the white pigment with a powdery polystyreneresin and mold it into pellets while kneading with an extruder. Usually.a sheet is formed by extrusion using the resulting pellets as thestarting material. However, a film may also be formed directly (i.e.,without molding pellets) by feeding the powdery composition into afilm-forming machine equipped with a kneading mechanism. Otherfilm-forming process using as the starting material the powderycomposition, are known, and any of them may be selected and utilized.

The thickness of the polystyrene resin film intended in the invention isin the range of from about 50 to about 350 microns. preferably fromabout 100 to about 300 microns, but is not limited only to this range.

In the present invention, one side of the abovedcscribcd polystyreneresin film is brought into contact with a first liquid strongly swellingor dissolving the polystyrene resin. The term swelling power as is usedherein to define this phenomenon is evaluated as follows.

When the square root'of the time of immersing a polystyrene film samplehaving a definite surface area (this means all samples being comparedshould have the same surface area) in a solvent in question is plottedas the abscissa and the weight of the solvent penetrated into the sampleis plotted as the ordinate, an almost straight line results. The slopeof this line is regarded as the power of the solvent to swell thepolystyrene resin, Such a plot is shown in the drawing.

The term strong swelling power as is used herein means a swelling powercorresponding to a slope larger than that of methyl isobutyl ketone. Asthe major component of the first liquid having such property, there are,in order of decreasing strength of swelling power, methylene dichloride,trichloroethylene, chloroform, ethylene dichloride, carbontetrachloride, tetrachloroethane, benzene, methyl acetate, toluene,ethyl acetate, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone, solvent naphtha and thelike.

The first liquid is a single-component liquid or a liquid compositioncontaining at least the abovedescribed organic solvent having the powerto swell or dissolve the polystyrene resin used. The essential criterionwhich must be met in such a liquid composition is that the compositionhave a swelling power less than the second liquid and greater than thethird liquid. While not limitative, generally a single first liquid asde scribed above will be the major component of such a system, i.e.,more than 50 volume 70, preferably more than volume 70.

Various coating techniques can be used to contact the resin with thefirst liquid, such as impregnationcoating, beadcoating, spray-coating,etc., all of which are conducted in the same manner as has heretoforebeen used in any. The contacting is effected to the extent that there isobserved a swelling or dissolution of the surface of the polystyreneresin film. The support, when dried, will have a surface of a beautifulgloss.

As will be clear from the present specification, the first, second andthird liquids can be freely selected from a wide range of materials solong as they meet the relative swelling power criteria defined, i.e. inorder of decreasing swelling power for polystyrene second liquid, firstliquid, third liquid, with the third liquid most preferably being anon-solvent or substantial nonsolvent for polystyrene. By substantialnon-solvent" is meant that if polystyrene is contacted with the thirdliquid per se no swelling is observable during contact times as are usedin the present invention. At the same time, any second liquid whichexhibits a stronger swelling power than the first liquid can be used,with better results being obtained the greater the difference inswelling power between the first liquid and second liquid.

Subsequently, the opposite side of the polystyrene resin film to thetreated side is brought into contact with a mixed solution consisting ofthe earlier described second liquid and third liquid. When treated withsuch a mixed solution, the treated surface becomes a coarse surfacehaving a fine roughness. Surprisingly enough, the phenomenon of forminga coarse surface does not vary so much in the end over a widecompositional range for the mixed solution (i.e., roughly speaking, overthe range of the ration of the third liquid/(the second liquid the thirdliquid) of several to several ten 70). This means that the second liquidis generally admixed in an amount more than the amount of third liquid,and the effects of the mixture are obtained over a wide range, mostpreferably 2-30 volume of the second liquid, though this upper value isnot limitative. The second liquid is a liquid having a stronger power toswell 0r dissolve polystyrene resin than the first liquid. The thirdliquid is a liquid having no or an extremely small power to swell ordissolve the polystyrene resin. Therefore, these second and thirdliquids are selected depending upon the particular polystyrene resingand the first liquid used.

Several preferable combinations thereof are illustrated below.

First liquid Second liquid/third liquid (at) Methyl ethyl ketone (at)Methylene dichloride/ methanol do. Methylene dichloride/ cyclohexanc do.Trichlene/methanol do. Trichlene/cyclohexane do. Benzene/methanol (b)Ethyl acetate (b) Ethylene dichloride/ methanol do. Chloroform/methanoldo. Trichlene/methanol do. Methylene dichloride] methanol do.Toluene/methanol (c) Ethylene dichloride (c) Trichlene/methanol do.Methylene dichloride/ methanol do. Methylene dichloride/ acetone do.Methylene dichloride/ cyclohexane (d) Benzene (d) Carbon tetrachloride/methanol do. Methylene dichloride/ methanol do. Chloroformlmethanol do."lrichlene/methanol do. Methylene dichloride/ methanol do. Methylenedichloride/ acetone do. Trichlene/acetone do. Trichlene/cyclohexane Thepolystyrene resin film is brought into contact with the mixed solutionin the same manner as in the case of contacting the polystyrene resinfilm with the first liquid. In the abovedescribed process, the mixingratio of the strong solvent to the non-solvent in the mixed solution tobe brought into contact with the side not to be coated with aphotographic emulsion (i.e., the back side) should be properly adjusteddepending upon the kind of the solvent to be contacted with the side tobe coated with a photographic emulsion, the thickness of agelatin-containing photographic emulsion layer to be coated thereon andthe curling degree desired in the complete product. 7

In general. the tendency of curling in a concave state toward thebackside increases almost in proportion to the concentration of thestrong solvent in the mixed solution contacted with the back side of thefilm. Therefore, any desirable curling degree can be experimentallyobtained with ease by suitable changing the mixing ratio.

Either of the steps of contacting each side of the polystyrene resinfilm with the liquid may be firstly conducted, or both treatments may beconducted at the same time. In addition, each treatment may be conductedin one step or in two or more steps. With respect to the above-describedfirst liquid and the mixed solution, the resin film may be contacted oneby one with several kinds of liquids belonging to the category of thesame type that of the respective liquids. Such embodiments can easily bedesigned by the one skilled in the art, and the present inventionincludes all of such embodiments, for example, if the first liquid isA(for example A ,A the second liquid is B (for example 8,, 8 and thethird liquid is C (for example, C C one could practice A treatment (B Ctreatment; (B, C treatment A, treatment; A, treatment A treatment (B Ctreatment (B C treatment; A, treatment (B C treatment A treatment 31 (BC treatment, etc.

There is no particular criticality on the conditions of the treatmentsinsofar as temperature or pressure are concerned, but one should avoidextreme temperatures which will damage the polystyrene. Operation atatmospheric is generally used, but sub-or superatmopheric pressures canbe used if desired.

As will be clear from the Examples, the time of contact is not overlycritical, and generally the liquid is merely applied and then allowed toevaporate naturally or by heating. The exact time is best empiricallyselected and this is done, usually, merely by varying temperature ofcontact for a few process runs until a desired product is obtained.

After conducting the above-described steps, the polystyrene resin filmis subjected to a drying step. It is preferred toeffect drying so thatthe liquids used in the preceding two steps areremoved as completely aspossible. In addition, there is no problem when the drying is conductedto the extent that the polystyrene support itself is not softened, e.g.,usually at a temperature less than C.

Thus, by using the mixed solvent according to the process of theinvention, fine roughness is formed on the back surface of thepolystyrene resin film, whereby the back surface is provided with goodwriting printing and adhesion capability, and there can be obtained anoptional curling without widely changing the abovedescribedcapabilities.

The present invention will now be illustrated in greater detail byseveral examples. The curling values in the examples are defined asfollows. A curling value of 0 means that the film is planar with nocurling. Curling in a convex form with respect to the photographicemulsion-coated side or the side to be coated with the photographicemulsion is evaluated as a curling, whereas curling in a concave form isevaluated as a curling. The curling degree is rated in each case by 5grades, which is regarded as the curling value. The greater thenumerical number, the greater the curling degree.

In addition to the synthetic resins other than the polystyrene resin andthe white pigments, the support prepared by the process of thisinvention may contain various additives such as a placticizer, astabilizer, a nonwhite pigment coloring material, an antistatic agent, alubricant, a fluorescent dye, an antioxidant, an ultraviolet rayabsorbing agent, a filler (clay, etc. and the like. The support can beprepared by melt-blending the white pigment and other optional additiveswith the resin components at a temperature above the melting point. ofthe resin components to uniformly disperse the fine powder component(s)in the resin component(s) and molding the resulting molten mixture intoa sheet.

Various procedures are well known in the art for producing such a sheet,but in a preferred embodiment, the composition comprising the finepowder component(s) and the resin component(s) is charged into anextruder with or without previous mixing in a mixer such as Henschelmixer, and the extruded sheet is polished while cooling by passingthrough polishing rolls having a roll surface temperature below 100 C,or the above composition is thoroughly mixed in a mixer such as aBanbury mixer, a mixing roll, an extruding mixer, etc., and the moltencomposition is then passed through a calender roll to prepare thedesired sheet. As previously described, the thickness of the sheet isgenerally in the range of from about 50 to about 350 microns. preferablyfrom about 100 to about 300 mi crons, but it may be freely adjusteddepending upon the specific utility ofthe final photographic materialsproduced thereof.

EXAMPLE 1 parts by weight of titanium dioxide fine powder (size lessthan l.5,u) was kneaded with 100 parts by weight of a commerciallyavailable impact-resistant polystyrene resin (M.W., in the range 80,000500,000) extruded into a sheet and drawn 2.5 times both in thelongitudinal direction and in the transverse direction to produce a film200 microns in thickness. The curling value ofthe resulting film wasZero.

On side of the thus produced polystyrene resin film was wetted withmethyl ethyl ketone and dried at a temperature of 80 C. The treatedsurface of the obtained film had a remarkable gloss and had a curlingvalue of +5.

Five samples were prepared from the resulting film, and the back side ofeach of the samples was similarly treated with a mixed solution ofmethylene dichloride and methanol in a mixing ratio as is given in thefollowing table. The curling value ofthe samples and the state of theback side thereof were as given in the following table.

From the results shown in the above table, it can be seen that thecurling value of the first liquid-treated film was reduced in everysample by the treatment with the second solution and thesolution-treated surface was rendered coarse to the extent that thewriting property with a pencil was good.

However, where the content of methylene dichloride (which has theproperty of dissolving the polystyrene resin) in the composition of themixed solution was large as in Sample 1 it was observed that though thetreated surface was rendered coarse the degree of coarseness was low andthe writing property with a pencil was degraded.

Onto the surface of Sample 2 there was applied a silver halidephotographic emulsion having the following composition, and dried.

Composition of the silver halide photographic emulsion: (amount coatedper 1 m of the film) Silver chlorobromide Gelatin (binder) Formalin(hardener Saponin (wetting agent for coating Water to make The curlingvalue of the obtained photographic lightsensitive material was zero.

EXAMPLE 2 Ethyl acetate was applied to one side of the titanium dioxidecontaining polysytrene resin film used in Example l and the sampleair-dried.The curling value of the thus obtained film was +5.

On the other hand, after coating the back side of the film with a mixedsolution of tetrahydrofuran/methanol (4:1 in volume ratio) and drying itat C for 5 minutes the surface was in turn coated with ethyl acetateunder the same condition as above and then air-dried. The curling valueof thus obtained polystyrene resin film was l with the back side beingrendered properly coarse. The writing property thereof with a pencil wasgood.

EXAMPLE 3 Ten parts by weight of titanium dioxide as in Example l and 5parts by weight of calcium carbonate of a size less than 1.5a were mixedand kneaded with 100 parts by weight ofa commercially availablepolystyrene resin (M.W. in the range of 80,000 500,000) and formed intoa sheet by and extruder equipped with a T-die. The resulting sheet wasdrawn 2.5 times in the longitudinal direction (i.e., extrudingdirection) and 2 times in the transverse direction to obtain apolystyrene resin film 250 microns thick. When one side of the film wascoated with n-butyl acetate and dried at 30 C the treated surface had aremarkable gloss and the film had a curling value of +4.

When the back side of the thus treated film was coated with a mixedsolution of ethylene dichloride/ethanol (4:1 in volume ratio) and driedat C, the curling value of the obtained polystyrene resin film was l.The writing property of the back side was extremely good.

While the invention has been described in detail and with reference tospecific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to one skilled in theart that various changes and modifications can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

l. A process for producing a support for use in a photographic material,which consists essentially of the steps of (a) contacting one side of apolystyrene resin film containing dispersed therein a white pigment witha first liquid composition comprising a first liquid having a swellingpower greater than that of methyl isobutyl ketone and capable ofswelling or dissolving said polystyrene resin and producing an excellentgloss on said one side when dried; (b)contacting the other side of saidpolystyrene resin film with a mixed solution consisting of a secondliquid having a stronger power of swelling or dissolving saidpolystyrene resin than the power of the first liquid composition ofswelling or dissolving said polystyrene resin and a third liquid havingno or an extremely small power of swelling or dis solving saidpolystyrene resin film and a smaller power of swelling or dissolvingsaid polystyrene film than the power of said first liquid composition,said solution being capable of producing a coarse surface having a lineroughness on said other side; and drying the film to remove the liquid,where step (a) and (b) may be performed in any desired sequence, anddrying may follow step (a), step (b) or both of steps (a) and (b).

2. The process of claim 1 where the first liquid is (a) methyl ethylketone, (b) ethyl acetate, (c) ethylene di chloride or (d) benzene,matched paired with a second liquid/third liquid combination as follows:

Methylene dichloride/methanol Methyl ethyl ketone (21) do. Methylenedichloride/cyclohexane 10 3. The process of claim 1 where the pigmenthas a mean grain size of 0.05 l0,u and is present in an amount of 24071by weight based on the polystyrene resin.

4. The process of claim 1 where the polystyrene resin is:

a. a polystyrene homopolymer b. a polystyrene copolymer c. a blend of(a)or (b) with another resin, comprising 3 to about parts of said anotherresin per parts of (a) or (b), by weight.

5. The process of claim 4 where the polystyrene resin has a molecularweight of from about 80,000 to about 500,000.

6. The process of claim 5 where the polystyrene copolymer comprises atleast 50 mol styrene.

7. The process of claim 3 where the pigment is titanium dioxide.

8. A support produced by the process of claim 1.

9. The support of claim 8 coated with a silver halide emulsion layer.

10. The process of claim 4, wherein said another resin is at least onemember chosen from the group consisting of ethylene-vinyl acetatecopolymers, ethylene-acrylic ester copolymers, ethylene-methacrylic acidionomers, ethylene-acrylic acid ionomers, butadiene-acrylonitrilecopolymers, ethylene-propylene copolymers, natural rubbers, syntheticisoprene rubbers, butadiene rubbers, styrene-butadiene rubbers,highstyrene content rubbers, polybutadienes, chloroprene rubbers,polybutenes, butyl rubbers and nitrile rubbers. l= l

1. A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING A SUPPORT FOR USE IN A PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL,WHICH CONSISTS ESSENTIALLY OF THE STEPS OF (A) CONTACTING ONE SIDE OF APOLYSTYRENE RESIN FILM CONTAINING DISPERSED THEREIN A WHITE PIGMENT WITHA FIRST LIQUID COMPOSITION COMPRISING A FIRST LIQUID HAVING A SWELLINGPOWER GREATER THAN THAT OF METHYL ISOBUTYL KETONE AND CAPABLE OFSWELLING OR DISSOLVING SAID POLYSTYRENE RESIN AND PRODUCING AN EXCELLENTGLOSS ON SAID ONE SIDE WHEN DIRED, (B)CONTACTING THE OTHER SIDE OF SAIDPOLYSTYRENE RESIN FILM WITH A MIXED SOLUTION CONSISTING OF A SECONDLIQUID HAVING A STRONGER POWER OF SWELLING OR DISSOLVING SAIDPOLYSTYRENE RESIN THAN THE POWER OF THE FIRST LIQUID COMPOSITION OFSWELLING OR DISSOLVING SAID POLYSTYRENE RESIN AND A THIRD LIQUID HAVINGNO OR AN EXTREMELY SMALL POWER OF SWELLING OR DISSOLVING SAIDPOLYSTYRENE RESIN FILM AND A SMALLER POWER OF SWELLING OR DISSOLVINGSAID POLYSTYRENE FILM THAN THE POWER OF SAID FIRST LIQUID COMPOSITION,SAID SOLUTION BEING CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A COARE SURFACE HAVING A FINEROUGHNESS ON SAID OTHER SIDE, AND DRYING THE FILM TO REMOVE THE LIQUID,WHERE STEP, (A) AND (B) MAY BE PERFORMED IN ANY DESIRED SEQUENCE, ANDDRYING MAY FOLLOW STEP (A), STEP (B) OR BOTH OF STEPS (A) AND (B). 2.The process of claim 1 where the first liquid is (a) methyl ethylketone, (b) ethyl acetate, (c) ethylene dichloride or (d) benzene,matched paired with a second liquid/third liquid combination as follows:3. The process of claim 1 where the pigment has a mean grain size of0.05 - 10 Mu and is present in an amount of 2-40% by weight based on thepolystyrene resin.
 4. The process of claim 1 where the polystyrene resinis: a. a polystyrene homopolymer b. a polystyrene copolymer c. a blendof (a) or (b) with another resin, comprising 3 to about 70 parts of saidanother resin per 100 parts of (a) or (b), by weight.
 5. The process ofclaim 4 where the polystyrene resin has a molecular weight of from about80,000 to about 500,000.
 6. The process of claim 5 where the polystyrenecopolymer comprises at least 50 mol % styrene.
 7. The process of claim 3where the pigment is titanium dioxide.
 8. A SUPPORT PRODUCED BY THEPROCESS OF CLAIM
 1. 9. THE SUPPORT OF CLAIM 8 COATED WITH A SILVERHALIDE EMULSION LAYER.
 10. The process of claim 4, wherein said anotherresin is at least one member chosen from the group consisting ofethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, ethylene-acrylic ester copolymers,ethylene-methacrylic acid ionomers, ethylene-acrylic acid ionomers,butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymers, ethylene-propylene copolymers,natural rubbers, synthetic isoprene rubbers, butadiene rubbers,styrene-butadiene rubbers, high-styrene content rubbers, polybutadienes,chloroprene rubbers, polybutenes, butyl rubbers and nitrile rubbers.